Matatu with crazy Hitler and swastika graffiti leaves netizens divided (photos)

 

Matatu culture is one of the biggest things going for Kenya and has brought our country both immense renown and some infamy to boot.

Recently, one particular matatu has caught the eyes of netizens online for one crazy reason-The owners went and emblazoned their 14-seater with graffiti of divisive Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

What was worse was that the graffiti of Hitler was superimposed on the infamous Swastika symbol. One particular X user, Arnold Lakita claimed that the crew had been arrested by the cops with reason still up for for speculation. 

"Westlands...Is wildin'! This, is a matatu emblazoned with the 'Fuehrer's' visage, complete with swastikas...As I was taking the pics, the crew had already been arrested by law enforcement and traffic cops, your guess is as good as mine as to why they were busted!" he wrote.

The comments section to the post heralded some very interesting takes on whether it was appropriate to have the imagery of a man who was responsible for starting World War 2 and causing the deaths of over 6 million Jews. 

Some of the comments are below;

colman@colmanwainga1· ADOLF HITLER gave independence to AFRICANS by proxy...the 2nd world war he instigated made it very expensive for imperialists to continue running their affairs in Africa..hence they had no otherwise but to wind up and go back and tend to their shattered economies1950256

Arnold Lakita@Arnimal2000 Hmmm...Interesting point

13KJa Koyare@Alex_gyst· Knowing all we know now, the man was a visionary and quite ahead of his time.

Arnold Lakita@Arnimal2000· That's kinda subjective considering he was a genocidal maniac, but like the saying goes, 'one man's hero is another's villain'.

ClickHere__ But we print the queen as a saint. How many Africans were killed by the west? But when the west kills the west they make us hate the "villain". KKK still exists but Hitler's images and the swastika is an arrestable offence. Buana bado tumecolonisiwa

Rono II@RonoAlphas· Why should they be arrested ? (Unless it is for other traffic violations, not the graffiti).550

KArnold Lakita@Arnimal2000· I'd assume it is not coz of 'Offensive Art', even though as an artist I do fully believe in freedom of expression, this is cutting it a bit too close, though in a subversive way it's hilarious, coz do they even know who that dude is???

What does the law state about matatu graffiti?

In February 2015, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) had in a statement, warned against the use of “offensive gestures, wordings, symbols, pictures or signs”.

However in a November 2018 statement by then outgoing National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) head, Director-General Francis Meja. it was clarified that artwork will not be taken down as long as it does not block windows and cover sacco names.

BY  GEOFFREY MBUTHIA